This looks like Challenge 5, which I’m finding I SIMPLY CANNOT DO. I tried going through earlier Challenges again (I know, I’m supposed to resist that temptation, but I’n getting desperate). It doesn’t seem to help. Other languages I’ve studied decades ago keep popping up–I consistently say “je” instead of “dwi”, for instance. When I was young I was good at languages; have I lost it now that I’m 65?’

Other languages I’ve studied decades ago keep popping up–I consistently say “je” instead of “dwi”, for instance. When I was young I was good at languages; have I lost it now that I’m 65?’

Please help me and tell me what I’m doing wrong. Diolch!

You’re definitely not too old to learn a new language. You’re experiencing a natural thing that happens when the brain is “re-wired”, but that part takes time.

The only thing you could possibly do wrong is to get frustrated and beat yourself up about it. Making mistakes is an integral part of this process, so just let it happen. Trust the process, and with more time and exposure these mistakes will disappear. (They will probably replaced by other mistakes, but that’s okay!)

We all been there - a French word popped into a conversation I was having last week …a strange thing as I haven’t spoken French for a very long time! I managed to laugh it off…

I think @aran tends to recommend that to press on in groups of five eg 1 to 5, 6 to 10…and, if you feel the need, repeat by going back over the five.

There is a huge amount of repetition in the lessons by design - so you get to go over the material by continuing, if you know what I mean.

If you are getting something out, in the gaps, my impression is that Aran recommends you keep going - looping back as necessary, to check it’s working. I’m sure he will chip in if this view needs refining!

@nancy you’ve been given some good advice from people who’ve been through the process already - and the most important part is to try not to worry or stress about it. I’ve dabbled in other languages over the years, and even those that I hardly spent any time on, started popping up when I started learning Welsh.

My advice is “don’t fight it”. Parts of your brain that have been lying dormant for some time are being activated, and that’s a good thing. It shows how much you have tucked away that can come to the fore again, if it gets stimulated in the right way.

One person on the 6 Month course recently described her brain as having one compartment for ‘foreign languages’. She speaks English and German fluently and they have their own separate compartments, but Welsh is still in the ‘foreign language’ box jumbled up with bits and pieces of other languages. She is confident that eventually Welsh will have its own compartment too, but for the time-being she just accepts that the other languages will compete.

The more you keep going with the Welsh and the less attention you give the others, the more they will fade into the background again.

One question though - you say that you’ve gone through earlier challenges again. Did you find that Challenge 1 was easier when you went back to it? If you did, then you’re on the right track. If you didn’t then we may have to consider whether you might be a Higher Repetition Learner and that’s nothing to do with age. It’s just the way some people need to learn

Hi Nancy, dont despair. I’d say keep going gently and enjoy coming out with the occasional “Je”. It’s early days yet if you are on Challenge 5. As mentioned, with the repetition/revision that comes with the next challenges, it will all suddenly click. It did with me around challenge 10. I’m about the same age as you, but I’m not good at languages. Nevertheless, I now speak Welsh because of SSiW.

Is there any chance that you are trying to get every word right. The advice about getting 80% right has now been superseded. So it’s OK to ignore it. Just as long as you are saying something after the short sentences, you will be fine.

When I was young I was good at languages; have I lost it now that I’m 65?

Exactly the same applied to me. I started learning Welsh in my 60s after decades of not having done any languages, and wondered whether I could do it. Now a couple of years on, and especially by having a good number of chats with other learners on the Slack website, I am speaking Welsh confidently enough to hold my own. I’ve a long way to go to be fluent, but who cares about that? And in terms of age, there are other learners on here in their 70s and 80s, and I believe I’ve seen one in their 90s. So we’re just spring chickens by comparison!

If you are just going through the challenges yourself -
Go to “Welsh” in the header above. Then down two sections to “Speaking Practice”. Then just look at the topic on “Setting up a Sound cloud account”.

Basically, the next step is to record what you just said, when you feel confident.

I think that’s right, but I might be jumping the gun.

PS, its just a way of talking in the semi wild amongst us friends who have all been there. A sort of safari park of tame animals as someone previously said.

Yay - done it!! Loving this method of learning as it’ so motivational to be able to speak sentences that make sense, and sound good with the repeated listening to and rehearsing the pronounciations too. Thank you SSiW team, and for having this forum to tap into a motivational and helpful resource so we don’t feel completely alone out here!